REvIeWS — THE ECONOMIC MINERALS OF CANADA. 215 



apocarpous fruit, pistils ; in case of partial coherence counting one 

 or several pistils, accordingly as the styles were separate or combined. 

 "With this view, we conclude that the term "pistil" should now only 

 be used in connection with the Linnaean artificial system. Gynoecium 

 we take to be the proper collective term for the whole of the carpels, 

 one or many, as the case may be, — ^just as corolla expresses the whole 

 of the petals, and androecium the whole of the stamens ; but we be- 

 lieve no correct botanical writer would employ gynoecium to include 

 any part occasionally connected with the carpels, but really not be- 

 longing to their circle ; nor is it correct to describe a carpel as part of 

 a pistil, which so often means a single carpel : it should have been 

 explained, " one of the modified leaves composing the gynoecium ;" 

 or better, perhaps, " an organ formed from a modified leaf in the in- 

 terior of a flower, of which the lower portion is ovuliferous, the 

 middle portion (when distinctly present called the style), serves to 

 elevate the glandular extremity, called the stigma, through which the 

 pollen acts upon the ovules." 



The useless terms which Mr. Cooke has preserved are in our 

 opinion very numerous. Thus we take from the few first pages, ala- 

 hastrus, amphisarca, angiencJiyvia, anthocarpous, anthodium, atracten- 

 chyma. What these words mean could be better expressed in plain 

 ordinary English. They are only a burden to the science ; and it is 

 doing an injury to press them on the attention of ordinary students, 

 amongst whom may be found those who will think it a sign of know- 

 ledge and skill to use them. 



Mr. Cooke's book is prettily got up, and the illustrations are good 



and useful of their kind ; but we cannot say that we think it judicious, 



or that it supplies a real want of any class of students. We cannot, 



therefore, bestow upon it any strong recommendation. 



W. H. 



Descriptive Catalogue of a Collection of the Economic Minerals of 

 Canada, and of its Crystalline Rocks. Sent to the London In- 

 ternational Exhibition for 1862. 



This catalogue is an admirable work, not merely serving the pur- 

 pose of a guide of the most useful kind to the collection in the 

 exhibition, but being also a most convenient permanent record of the 

 economic minerals of Canada, and the principal and best known 



